Lena Reserve

East Haddam Town Park

207 acres in East Haddam, CT

Parking: Cul de sac near 32 Babcock Rd, East Haddam, CT

Trail Map        Trails: 2.8 miles       Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Note: The trail map above is out of date, there is are new green and purple loops here at the Lena Reserve

Hiking

I pulled into the parking area at the end of Babcock Road expecting a simple woods loop and ended up pleasantly surprised by a few new trails on my Spring 2024 visit.  I started heading north on the red trail, a wide gravel path, and quickly came across the unexpected green trail.

I took this clearly recently cleared trail off to the left crossing small hummocks, old stone walls, and a tiny clear stream heading toward the eastern edge of the property.  The dense understory cleared into more open forest on what must be old farm land to climb a large hill.  Near the top of this ridge a purple loop further extends to the use the full space of this property.  The purple meets back up with the green and the green meets back up with the red so there are several loop options here.

Once back on the original red loop the trail takes you down to Hedge Brook and climbs again, crossing small feeder streams along the way to a high bank view of tiny cascades below.  The trail stays within view of the brook for a stretch before descending into dense understory again.  A couple patches here were wet/muddy with no easy way around.  Soon you’ll reach the blue crossing trail and at the junction is a ‘Perpetual “Flower” Garden’ filled with painted rocks that you’re free to pick if you please.  I’d suggest taking the blue trail back to the parking area.

I instead took the rest of the red loop which follows the abandoned stretch of Babcock Road.  This old dirt road is a rutted mud pit with some surprisingly steep climbs that I did not find enjoyable to hike.  Since this is nearly half of the red loop, had this been half my total hike, I think I would have had a very different opinion of this property.  It likely is normally much drier and probably easier to take as the first part of your hike should you choose to explore it.

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